oops I knew i forgot one, it's in now.
The Truth is Atlanta, Brainerd and E-Town are all insignificant, why. This season those 3 events are committing suicide by Running against NASCAR weekends that are in the same market.
Atlanta ran the same weekend as Talladega
Brainerd will run the same weekend as Michigan
E-Town runs the same weekend as Dover
shows how Much NHRA Cares about those events. Plus E-Town still has a "stink" from 2 of the last 4 years...
I want E-Town to mean more, but the truth is it's falling more and more out of favor (wait til Epping finally can hold national events). how soon til NHRA cans RP so now they have to go full on Feld which only benefits in being able to book Feld/Monster Jam owned trucks for thrill shows?
I don't want to see it happen, I just want to see the respect of the event being what it once was, not be demoted from "Major" to "Just another event" even though that probably happened when the race was moved to May from July and Lost it's SummerNationals name. I hope it re-surges, for starters it has a Sponsor (Toyota) that was announced way in advance unlike prior years. Hopefully that stays, then the prestige of the event can be rebuilt.
This year there's no Alky Cars, I hope there's jet cars fri night, as well as a "REAL" night session so we can get great performance (especially if it's primo conditions). 20 years of going to this event, do me proud PLEASE!!
I'm ranting again....
It is a shame considering E-Town will forever have a place in NHRA history. Just off the top of my head...
1976? - Jungle Jim wins his only NHRA funny car national event.
1986 - Big Daddy suffers the first blowover
1990 - Chuck Etchells picks up his first career funny car win.
1991 - Tom McEwen wins his final top fuel race late into the night driving for Jack Clark and Budweiser picks up the Pro Stock Challenge and moves it to Englishtown.
1992 - 300mph! Only the second time in history it has ever been done. The King of Speed lays a monster saturday night run.
1993 - Warren and Kurt Johnson stage the 2nd ever father son pro stock final. John Force becomes the third funny car driver to win 5 in a row. Rance McDaniel makes his first? career final, only to have the reverser break and give Kenny Bernstein the win.
1994 - Pro stock history is made by Kurt Johnson... 6.98! Can it get better? Michael Brotherton runs an astonishing 4.69! Gary Bolger makes his first ever funny car final for the independent Dale Creasy Tyrant team and has the throttle cable break on the line. Pat Austin stops Don Prudhomme gunning for a win in his final E-town race during the Final Strike tour.
1995 - Larry Dixon sets low et of the world at 4.66, and Al Hofmann runs 306mph in a funny car! All in the magical night qualifying session. Bob Glidden wins his 85th and final pro stock race. First race after the infamous dodge boys break in.
1996 - Bob Glidden wins the DuPont Pro Stock Challenge, his last win of any kind to date as a driver.
1997 - Darrell Alderman makes an emotional return to victory lane 2 years after the Wayne County break in with a new Team Mopar headed by Dale Eicke. Kenji Okazaki becomes the first Japanese national to win in funny car and Cristen Powell scores an unlikely top fuel win. (Youngest ever? I forget)
1998 - Night time qualifying and the fastest speed ever is recorded! 323mph! But wait.. it's in a funny car! John Force betters the feat in the final round leaving with a 323.89mph speed record.
2000 - Terrible weather pushes the event to September and Cruz Pedregon picks up his first win in over 2 years.
2003 - Brandon Bernstein breaks his back in a hard crash, pulling father Kenny back out of retirement.
2004 - Greg Anderson heads into the 6.60's in Pro Stock during the Dominator Duel (or whatever it was called then)
2008 - It is definitely a lowlight but Scott Kalitta makes his final quarter mile run here, it's also a run that changes the face of NHRA history causing the track to drop to 1,000 feet.
Obvioulsy I remember the 90s more than anything, but there were plenty of moments in the 70's, 80's and 00's. Either way Raceway Park SHOULD be higher on the list and should NOT lose a race date.